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European child & adolescent psychiatry
Nov, 2018;27 (11): 1433-1447.

Attention profiles in autism spectrum disorder and subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Sara Boxhoorn, Eva Lopez, Catharina Schmidt, Diana Schulze, Susann Hänig, Christine M Freitag
Author Information
  1. Sara Boxhoorn: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
  2. Eva Lopez: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
  3. Catharina Schmidt: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
  4. Diana Schulze: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
  5. Susann Hänig: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Saarland University Hospital, Homburg, Germany.
  6. Christine M Freitag: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. c.freitag@em.uni-frankfurt.de.
PMID: 29511887 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-018-1138-8

Abstract

Attention problems are observed in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most neuropsychological studies that compared both disorders focused on complex executive functions (EF), but missed to contrast basic attention functions, as well as ASD- and ADHD subtypes. The present study compared EF as well as basic attention functioning of children with the combined subtype (ADHD-C), the predominantly inattentive subtype (ADHD-I), and autism spectrum disorder without ADHD (ASD-) with typically developing controls (TD). Basic attention functions and EF profiles were analysed by testing the comprehensive attention function model of van Zomeren and Brouwer using profile analysis. Additionally, neurocognitive impairments in ASD- and ADHD were regressed on dimensional measures of attention- and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms across and within groups. ADHD-C revealed a strong impairment across measures of EF compared to ASD- and TD. The ADHD-C profile furthermore showed disorder specific impairments in interference control, whereas the ASD- profile showed a disorder specific impairment in basic attention component divided attention. Attention- and hyperactive-impulsive symptom severity did not predict neurocognitive impairments across- or within groups. Study findings thus support disorder and subtype specific attention/EF profiles, which refute the idea of a continuum of ADHD-I, ADHD-C, and ASD with increasing neurocognitive impairments.

Keywords

ADHD subtypes Attention executive function intensity selectivity

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Grants

  1. ME 1923/5-1/Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  2. ME 1923/5-3/Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  3. EUHFAUTISM - 01EW1105/Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
  4. 01GV0605/German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Grant
  5. 82600321/International Training Network MiND

MeSH Term

Adolescent
Attention
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Child
Cognition Disorders
Executive Function
Female
Germany
Humans
Impulsive Behavior
Male
Neurocognitive Disorders
Journal Article
Article has an altmetric score of 8

Word Cloud

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